Dear AuntMinnie Member,
There's nothing new about breast ultrasound elasticity imaging -- researchers have been investigating it for nearly a decade as a method of distinguishing malignant tissue from benign by measuring tissue stiffness. But the technique hasn't really caught on for routine clinical use, for a variety of reasons.
Now, U.S. researchers believe they may have hit on a better way to perform ultrasound elastography -- one that's easy to do and returns high marks for specificity and sensitivity. They think the new method could divert women with benign lesions from breast biopsy, while ensuring that those with malignant tumors receive further workup.
Working with an ultrasound vendor (Siemens Medical Solutions, Malvern, PA), the group developed an elastography technique that works in real-time and displays elasticity images next to conventional ultrasound images. By comparing the two, the group developed a diagnostic algorithm that predicted which women had breast cancer with 99% specificity and 100% sensitivity.
Want to know more? Click here for our latest AuntMinnieTV piece on this intriguing research.
